Lecture 1. Highlights

---

Introduction to UNIX

---

• Unix®
• a portable, multi-user, multi-tasking, free operating system with a huge contributing community behind it
  
• The Unix® philosophy
• programs that do one thing and do it well
• programs that work together
• programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface
• Why learn UNIX?
• "It will make you a better computer scientist"
• "It is a building block for learning other CS concepts"
• "It is open source and stable."
• "You have full control, it is not a black box"
• "No viruses, worms and other nasty things"
• "Superior applications in many areas (e.g. word processing such as LaTex )"

---

About CS 2204

---

• A walk through the Syllabus

---

Flavours of UNIX

---

• Take a look at this wikipedia entry for history and evolution.

---

Architecture of UNIX systems

---

• kernel - does low-level functions, controls hardware.
• shell - accepts user commands and executes them.
• application programs and utilities - the highest level at which users interact with UNIX.
  • In cs2204, we will primarily cover application programs and the use of the shell. A very important example: VIM (VI) - an all-purpose text editor. (To bore deeper into UNIX programming, you should take a course such as cs3204 ).